Boo birds out in full force in latest home loss
CHESTER » It’s only taken six games for the latest voyage of the Philadelphia Union’s optimism tour to run aground. And the latest thud wrapped up the kind of home start to the season that can get you eliminated from playoff contention before the fall has even arrived.
Dom Dwyer and Chris Mueller scored in the first half, and the Union’s anemic offense flailed aimlessly in a 2-0 setback to Orlando City on home turf.
“If we don’t play as a team, anybody can beat us,” midfielder Haris Medunjanin said. “As you saw today, the lines were too far from the defense to the midfield, from the midfield to the offense. Everything was not right. Everything was not how we spoke about this week, and then you lose against Orlando that is not a better team than us, but we give them two goals in the first half from nowhere.”
The loss is the latest in a string of missed opportunities for the Union (1-22, 5 points), who’ve gleaned just five of a possible 12 points from their opening four home games. Given the Union’s unceasing inability to pick up road wins, the lack of home form ominous tone.
Despite playing against an Orlando City defense missing two regulars from a unit that had allowed 10 goals in five games, the Union generated nothing on the scoreboard. In all, the hosts fired 20 shots (just five on target) and came up with bupkis on 31 crosses and 14 corner kicks as the floodgates that Jim Curtin has talked about opening remained in the locked position.
The Union have outshot opponents, 87-48, this season. But they’ve been outscored 6-3, indicative of faulty finishing in front of goal and imprudent selection of chances of
“It’s about scoring goals,” Medunjanin said. “If we have just one chance and we score a goal and it’s 1-0, that’s enough. It’s about winning games. It’s nice that last game we played so good, we dominated, but we didn’t win. And this game, you sets an need to win. That’s what it was all about. It’s not about how many chances you create; it’s about that you score the goals and that you play as a team.”
“It’s a matter of inches,” the manager said, highlighting a chance in the 72nd minute when both CJ Sapong and Jay Simpson slid but couldn’t tap home a fizzled cross by Ilsinho.
What Orlando (3-2-1, 10 points) got in that opening 45 was exactly what the Union have lacked — stars looking like stars, and young players contributing. Instead, the Union’s key offseason acquisitions have continued to underwhelm while the kids looked the part.
Matt Real didn’t cloak himself in glory on Dwyer’s opener in the 38th minute, slow to step and keeping Dwyer onside as he ran parallel to the backline. Sacha Kljestan’s looped cross hit Dwyer in the back, settling it for him to take a touch and rifle just inside the far post for his fourth goal in three starts this season and fifth in nine games against the Union.
Real, the rookie from Upper Darby in his third MLS start, nearly took out center back Jack Elliott as the two got their wires crossed in the 45th with the rookie Mueller darting down the right wing. He found space on the outside, where Real should’ve been, then fired a shot that beat Andre Blake and allowed the Union to exit the field at halftime serenaded by boos dampened only by the paucity of the 16,032 sold tickets that actually showed up.
“It’s not for lack of effort for our guys,” Curtin said. “They emptied the tank, they give everything. But at the same time, it’s a struggle for us to score right now.”
Most concerning is the overdependence on speculative crosses — the Union rank third in MLS, per whoscored.com, at an average of 18.4 failed crosses per match. That strategy might have worked better a year ago, with Chris Pontius providing astute late runs. But this year, with wingers David Accam and Fafa Picault each standing a generous 5-8, there’s no one to rise to meet those lofted entreaties. The Union spent its offseason coin, notoriously scarce as it is, on a central attacking midfielder in Borek Dockal, and the amount of attacking moves that bypass him are concerning, as does how befuddled the Czech designated player continues to look.
Accam looked lively early on, but his finishing sights remain wayward. He found space in the 17th minute, but his effort was denied low by the right hand of Joe Bendik. Accam also hit the side netting in the 26th with just Bendik to beat.
“It’s an evening where, I’d agree, we weren’t perfectly clean through midfield with our passing,” Curtin said. “But at the same time, still had a lot of the ball, still create a lot of chances, and the ball’s not bouncing our way right now and it’s not going in the net. With that obviously confidence drops and we’re not really built to chase the game from behind. It’s a challenge.”
Mark McKenzie made his MLS debut in the 52nd minute for Elliott, who exited with a leg injury to close his 34th consecutive start that he said will require an MRI. McKenzie held his own against Dwyer, who was shown a yellow card late for trying to draw a penalty on the youngster.
But even the sturdiness of most of the youthful defenders isn’t enough to offset the continued failures in the attack.
“That’s frustrating because we are a better team than that,” Medunjanin said, “but we played poorly today.”